new homes

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One of the more common questions we hear as people tour our model home in Showfield for the first time, is, “Why did you name your model home The Saltaire?” We love the question, because at Lessard Builders, the names of our model home and our home floor plans have great meaning to us. Today, we want to share the story behind that meaning and how we chose the names for our East Coast Series floor plans! We hope you enjoy!

The Past Meets The Present

The story behind our newest floor plan’s names begins generations ago, when Dan Lessard founded our family building business in Long Island, NY. For Dan, every job and every decision revolved around two things: heritage and family. Dan strove to build structures that were above-the-cut exceptionally well built, so a family or business would be proud to reside there for decades. When Dan had a family and had an ongoing new home construction in Naples FL, he passed those values down to his son Addie. When Addie had his children, he also made sure they understood the family’s heritage and reputation for unbeatable quality. Eventually Addie relocated his family to Delaware and shortly after his son Brian took over the family business. Brian followed right in his fathers’ and grandfathers’ footsteps, and just as it had always been, he ensured the core Lessard Builders values of heritage, family and exceptional quality never wavered.

Now let’s jump to the heart of this story: the naming of our new custom home series and floor plan designs in late 2016. Our Lessard team and architects had just finished designing twelve new home floor plans and we needed to find twelve names that fit the new plans and series! We were determined to choose names that had meaning to Lessard Builders and that conveyed the luxury and diversity of each new floor plan. Yet no matter where we looked for name inspiration nothing felt right. The more we searched, the more we found ourselves overwhelmingly pulled by two familiar forces: our heritage and our family. We took that cue and began focusing our search for inspiration in the area it all started for Lessard Builders, Long Island, NY.

 

Lessard Long Island Heritage

As soon as we began discussing the names of Long Island towns and villages “out East” everything began falling into place. Eastern Long Island was where our Lessard Builders history had started, where Brian and his family and siblings grew up, and where they learned how to build homes. After some soul searching we decided to name our newest Lessard Builders line of custom home floor plans after our Long Island heritage. We compiled a huge list of towns out East with a special respect for the villages, towns, and cities the Lessard family had worked, lived or played in. One-by-one our floor plans were named after beautiful Long Island villages, towns and cities like Greenport, South Hampton, and Saltaire!

The Lessard Builders East Coast Series was born!

Lessard News from Earlier This Week

On Monday we released The Riverhead, our thirteenth and newest Lessard Builders East Coast Series custom home floor plan! Meeting the demands of today requires a home that’s designed around your family and your family’s unique lifestyle, so The Riverhead like all Lessard East Coast Series floor plans is 100% fully customizable! With Lessard Builders every home, every wall, every room’s shape and dimensions can be tweaked or fully changed to meet your needs. For more information about The Riverhead or any of our twelve other home floor plans, visit our East Coast Series page, our Design Your Dream Lessard Home app,  connect with us on Facebook, or contact us at 302-698-1091 or 302-645-7444. If you can dream it, we can build it!

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There is an adage that a person worries less when they know more. In the United States in 2018 it is estimated there will be a home break-in roughly once every twenty seconds. You just spent your savings to build and move into your beautiful new home… so what is next on your to-do list? Upping your home’s defenses to minimize that risk of break-in is an excellent place to start. Make use of professional locksmith services like Liberty Locksmith of Calgary service to make sure your home and office is secure. 

As a homeowner, the first thing you must know is, what to do in case you get locked out of your home due to certain circumstances as this could save your life someday. As a homeowner, yes, it is impossible to completely prevent a break-in. With that said there are many steps listed on the Kwikey Locksmith’s landing page you can take to keep your home as secure as possible. Instead of droning on for pages about security tips and suggestions, we want to share an exceptional resource will all of you; The Comprehensive Guide to Securing Your Home from Safehome.org.

Safe guarding your home should be on the list of top priorities for you. Adding security cameras and having Wired Fire Alarm Device Installation can be great tools for prevention and protection. Therefore if you are on the lookout for experts who install safety features into your home for a reasonable price, do visit Perth mobile locksmith. You will be pleasently surprised. 

For those of you that don’t have time to completely read it, here is a short summary of the guides’ four best tips:

1) Burglars are opportunists. What do you think they look for on first glance when scoping a house? That’s right make sure your doors and all your windows are completely closed and locked whenever you leave your home. If these windows seem unsafe or you’re not too sure, then call the experts in home windows and consult with them if you need a window replacement. They might have a few reinforcing security measures to make sure those burglars look elsewhere. Remember, they go for easy targets almost exclusively, so any bit of deterrent you can afford to add will help.

You’ll want to make sure you get window professionals to ensure a perfect fit . Whether you are running a quick errand or not, your risk increases significantly if you leave windows and doors unlocked, we recommend using residential glass services to make sure your windows are durable and of a great quality, this way it won’t be easy for someone to break into your home. It allows for easy access without any barriers to entry. This way you enhance the security.

2) Keep your home well-lit, especially at night. Potential burglars know that their chances of detection are much greater if they can easily be seen. Do you think it seems pointless to leave a light or two on after you go to bed? With the energy efficiency of LED lightbulbs for a few dollars a year you greatly maximize your home’s evening defenses. Another good tip is to keep shrubbery well maintained, which minimizes places for a burglar to hide.

3) Make a concerted effort to get to know your neighbors. Creating relationships with those that live around you is a priceless defensive resource. When you go away, having people in your neighborhood who can collect your packages/mail and keep an eye on your home is invaluable. Burglars look for signs that they can get in and out of a home without detection; nothing screams ‘break in’ quite like a full mailbox and a growing stack of packages from Amazon sitting on your doorstep.  Kingstone Locksmith in Philadelphia provides a reassuring feeling that you are doing everything you can to protect your family and business.

4) Consider investing in home security technology. Perhaps you don’t want a full-fledged 24/7 monitored home security system. There are a handful of interior/exterior wireless cameras and motion detectors that you can install yourself. These cameras often come with an app that sends alerts directly to your phone, like drones used for the security reasons, see more about SixTech Systems providing those. Burglars would likely be deterred by the cameras alone, yet your defenses are even greater when you are always aware of what is happening in your home.

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Now that you’ve sat down and decided on the builder you will use to design and customize your new home, what is the best way to weed through all of your requirements, features and finishes so you create yourself the perfect home? 

The major advantage of building a new custom home is the opportunity to build a two storey home in Perth or install reclaimed wood flooring and then design your home plans accordingly. While this sounds really exciting at first, once the time comes to sit down and select your options and upgrades, many find the multitude of choices can be overwhelming. In lieu of that, one may just get a home from Reward Homes at Box Hill Heights, and just expunge the idea of building a new home, and all the difficulties that would come with it. You may end up checking out single family homes for sale in the area.

So, how can you best evaluate the endless choices that come with building a true custom home? 

 

  1. Finalize your budget

    Remember that a budget which may make sense for one home builder may equate to something different with another builder. First, be sure you are fully aware of the base choices your home builder provides as standard and what that does and does not include. While some builder executives use lots of ‘builder-speak’ during initial meetings that sounds good for the wallet and appeals to the eye, too often we hear stories of builders gauging customers for altering or customizing interior features such as room sizes and interior wall placements. Know what it is that you feel comfortable spending and precisely how much you are willing to deviate above your budget.

  2. Exterior and Structural Design 

    Custom designed home floor-plans, additions or changes should be discussed, drafted and approved prior to signing the contract, or informally approved and signed shortly thereafter. Often custom home builders want to charge significant fees for having a floor-plan custom designed, but some builders will roll the cost of architectural drafting of your custom designed plan back into the price of the home once a customer signs a final contract. Many builders have a few signature home design plans with different exterior styles and visually unique characteristics that customers can choose from. True custom home builders will allow you to take these signature designs and change them, blend them, or outright not use them at all. Another important structural option to consider is a basement or crawlspace. While some concrete contractors keep options for basements or crawlspaces limited, others have no problem allowing for a full Concrete Paver Installation as long as that properties’ water table can support it. While full basements are appealing to many families, some home buyers receive the same storage space benefit with a lesser cost by simply expanding the crawlspaces to 5 feet in height. And of course you should make a proper roof, windows and siding, just make sure that you contact the right siding installation services so that the exterior of your home will have great end results. I used this contractor last time to get my roof fixed and it’s been three years, and I have not faced even a single issue due to their excellent service. You could aslo contact C&D Brooklyn Roofers to check what they can suggest. Hail damaged roof repair or any damage resulting from natural disasters is covered by the home insurance. All of these options should be on the table when building a custom home, and it is worthwhile to discuss all of this with your builder prior to signing your contract, if you do not own a home insurance policy be sure to get one before staring any home projects  . 

  3. Interior Design 

    Spend some time evaluating the spaces you would get a lot of use from inside your new custom home. “How many bedrooms do we need with storage? How many baths do we want? What have we always dreamt of having in our next home?” Here is a little pro tip: it is very good to ask yourselves these things and then add them to your wants vs needs list. Some people are avid wine connoisseurs and require a wine cellar. Instead of having a second bedroom downstairs, that square footage should be able to be reallocated to give you that wine cellar (and perhaps a larger living room.) And, of course, there is the ease factor as well: you do not want to spend time after the home closing to work on your new home. The home builder you select should be working with you to customize your interior layout with respect to your rooms and room sizes and of course all of your self storage needs, so that on the day you move in your home is precisely the way you envision it to be and stay for years. 

  4. Long-Term Home Requirements

    Are you looking to build this home for your short term needs, as a vacation home, or are you looking to build a home that meets your needs for decades? With the increasing needs of modern families, there are even more things for customers to consider. In-law suites which provide semi-separate living spaces are becoming increasingly popular as the number of multigenerational households increasing. Although, go ahead and learn more here about home improvement for your kitchen, bathroom and more. While in-law suite design varies depending on the needs of each family, creating one that perfectly meets your loved ones needs is possible with careful planning during the budget and architectural design process. Homes with dual master-suites are also becoming increasingly popular. Dual master-suites offer increasing comfort and convenience to families that look forward to spending decades in their dream home. There is something special about being able to have the space for children and grandchildren to comfortably stay under your roof when they come for a Summer weekend or during the holidays. And, of course, there is the hassle factor as well: are you willing to track up and down the stairs after decades of living in your home, or would you be more comfortable knowing you have a full master-suite downstairs to meet your needs as the years progress.

  5. WANTS vs NEEDS

    In a few words, be flexible but don’t sacrifice what you really want. Remember that you set a budget for a reason, and while you may want to squeeze everything you possibly can into your custom home, it is good to work with a builder who will be very honest and work with you. Prepare a list of your ‘must-haves’ and ‘want-to-haves’. A true custom home builder will do everything they can to provide you everything on this list, but when it comes down to increasing your budget or nixing a few things, it is beneficial to know where your priorities lie. For example, many builders will offer you a plethora of choices for things like flooring, technology, and kitchen selection options, but many couples spend a lot of time entertaining so they like to budget some additional dollars for upgrades. Know what it is you want, know what it is you can’t live without, and then discuss these things with your builder to see how they can accommodate as close to every one as they can. You should remember that there are things that should be done properly, for example, concrete raising and leveling. You should work with the reputable contractors like PURlevel Inc (more at https://www.purlevel.com/) to expertly handle any of your needs.

Lastly, be sure to communicate all of these things explicitly to your builder and their design professionals. Ask them to provide you spreadsheets of your choices, and be sure to carefully read through and initial every choice on every document. These tips will not only take a significant portion of the unknown away from your evaluation process everything after you’ve selected your builder, but they have the potential to cut out a significant amount of the time you spend on the choices you make for your new home!